Feeding mechanism for presses



28,1934 U R. "r. AND.ERSON 1,971,632

FEEDING MECHANISM FOR PRES SE5 Filed Sepd. .15. 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet 1gwuenlioz Aug. 28, 1934. 1 ANDERSQN 137L632 FEEDING MECHANISM FbRPRESSES Filed Sept. 15. 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Aug. 28, 19341.971332 FEEDING MECHANISM FOR PRESSES I Raymond Tuttle Anderson, Berea,Ohio, assignor to The V. D. Anderson Company, Cleveland,

Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Application September 15, 1930, Serial No.482,122

10 Claims.

This invention pertains to presses and relates more particularly to themeans employed for feeding materials of different kinds to thepressingmechanism proper.

6 The main object of the invention is to provide means at the upperportion of the vertically disposed feeding mechanism which will act toforce the material downwardly which, at such time, is in a relativelynon-compacted condition, combined with means in the lower portion andadjacent the intake of the pressing mechanism which acts to exert anincreasing degree of pressure upon the material until it is finallydischarged into the press proper.

A further object of the invention is to provide means for preventingrotation of the material with the feeding devices and thus insure adownward movement and a partial compression of the material as it ismoved toward and into the press intake. The provision of such means isparticularly advantageous where the material undergoing treatment is aground, slightly moist and heated material, such materials having atendency to stick to the rotating feeding elements and to the wall ofthe associated hopper or chute thereby cutting down the proper feed ofthe material in the hopper and the intake of further material.

The invention is illustrated in the annexed to drawings wherein,

Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view of the feed hopper, a temperingapparatus which discharges into the upper end thereof and a portion of apress into which the material is fed,

35 Figure 2 an enlarged vertical sectional view of the hopper and thefeeding devices,

Figure 3 a vertical sectional elevation illustrating the upperspiralfeeding element and illustrating more particularly the manner inwhich 40 it is secured to its supporting sleeve,

Figure 4 a transverse horizontal sectional view taken on the line IV-IVof Figure 3, and

Figure 5 a vertical sectional view of the upper .part of the hopper anda modified form of feeding element therein.

Referring first to Figures 1 to 4, 1 denotes generally a temperingapparatus which may be of any form but preferably follows the structuredisclosed in Letters Patent to F. B. Anderson num- 5o bered 1,132,421.

The material undergoing treatment normally passes through an opening 2formed in the adjacent wall of the vertically disposed tubular chute 3.A dam 4 controls the out-flow of material from the tempering apparatusand, as will be appreciated, the higher the upper edge of the dam thegreater the length of period the material will undergo the temperingaction at a given rate of feed.

A second opening 5, normally closed by a gate 6, affords means for fullydischarging the tempering apparatus when necessary.

Secured upon the upper end of the chute 3 is a hous ng or casting 7 intothe upper end of which extends a horizontally disposed shaft 8 upon theoutwardly extending end whereof is a driving member 9, designed to slipor to break its shear pin when too great a load is placed upon shaft 8by the feeding elements shortly to be described.

Shaft 8 carries a bevel gear 10 which meshes with a similar gear 11,which latter is secured to the upper end of a vertically disposed stubshaft 12, the lower end whereof extends into the upper portion of thechute 3. A stufling gland 13 is mounted in the lower end of casting 7and prevents leakage of oil from the housing or casting around the shaft12.

A second shaft 14 extends downwardly through the chute, the upper end ofthe shaft, as well as the lower end of shaft 12, being splined to aconnecting sleeve 15, the ends of the shafts being likewise pinned tothe sleeve as shown in Figure 2.

The lower end of chute 3 is in alignment with and secured to the hopper16 of the press which may be of any approved form but preferably of thattype wherein a shaft 17 carries a feed worm 18 and a plurality ofseparated worms 19. The latter and the inner end of worm 18 aresurrounded by a series of separated bars 29 which form the shell of thepress. Such construction is well known and is set forth in Patent Number829.315 to V. D. Anderson. 7

Mounted upon the upper end of shaft 14 below the coupling sleeve 15 is aspacing sleeve 21 and below said sleeve is a second sleeve 22. Saidlatter sleeve is keyed to the shaft so that it is forced to rotatetherewith and forms the support for an open spiral 23 which has arelatively quick pitch as compared to some of the feeding elementshereinafter to be referred to. This open spiral is welded'to a flange 24extending outward- 1y from the sleeve 22, the flange taking the samecurvature as the spiral.

Associated with the upper portion of the spiral and located intermediateit and the sleeve 21 is a flnger or rod 25 which stands in spacedrelation to said elements and "acts to stir up the material which is fedinwardly through the opening 2. As

above noted, where the material is of a sticky no nature it will tend toadhere to the wall of the chute 3 as well as to the sleeve 21 and spiral23. The finger standing between the spiral and the sleeve tends to breakup such adhesion between said elements and spiral, the outer face ofwhich works close to the inner face of the chute and clears the chute ofany adherent material. The rod 25 extends through a screw 26 whichpasses inwardly through the wall of the chute 3 and is pinned to the,screw. The screw, and consequently the rod. may be adjusted by turningthe screw in or out and will be held in place by a lock nut as 27. Itwill of course be understood that the rod 25 must be disconnected fromthe screw 26 prior to inward or outward adjustment of the latter andafter which the rod is replaced and the connecting pin inserted tomaintain the rod in position.

The lower portion of the fiange 24 extends downwardly below the spiral,as best shown in Figure 3, and stands in practical alignment with theupper end of a worm 28 welded to or formed upon a sleeve 29. A shortcollar, as 30, is placed between the sleeve 22 and the sleeve 29. Thelower end of the member 24 and the upper end of the spiral 28 are spacedapart and a machine screw 31 extends inwardly between the space thusformed. Said screw tends to prevent rotation of the material within thechute and thus permits the spirals 23 and 28 to force the materialdownward.

Surrounding the shaft 14 below the sleeve 29 is a second short spacersleeve 32 and below said sleeve there is mounted a spiral 33 the pitchwhereof is materially less than that of the spirals heretofore referredto. Other spirals 34 and 35 spaced apart at their adjacent ends, and theformer spaced from the spiral 33, are secured to the shaft withintermediate spacing collars as 36 and 37. Machine screws 38, 39 and 40are located in the spaces formed between the spirals 33, 34 and 35,respectively.

The lower end of the shaft 14 is provided with a left hand thread and anut 41 is mounted thereon and acts to hold the various collars andassociated elements in proper position upon the shaft 14.

Motion is imparted to the shaft 17 through any suitable source of poweras for instance a driven gear 42. A sprocket wheel 43 secured to theoutward portion of the shaft 17 transmits motion through a chain 44 to asprocket wheel 45 mounted upon a shaft 46. This shaft imparts motion tothe paddles 47 mounted within the tempering apparatus 1; There is alsosecured to the shaft 46 a second sprocket wheel 48 about which, and thefrictional driving element 9, there passes a chain 49.

In Figure 5 a slight modification is shown wherein instead of employingthe upper open spiral, as 23, a closed quick pitch spiral 50 issubstituted. This latter is stronger than the former and with certainmaterials may be advantageously employed. The remainder of the structureis otherwise the same as heretofore described. This arrangement isespecially applicable when pressing bonesor hard chunky materials assuch materials tend to destroy the spiral and the stationary finger orrod. Due to the weight and size of the pieces'there is no choking up atthis point in thechute because the pieces will naturally gravitate.

Pressure exerted by the spirals and worms may. of course, be regulatedby adjustment of the friction drive 9. So too the member 9 will preventbreakage of the feeding mechanism in case extraneous matter, such as apiece of iron, should accidently be introduced in the chute.

What is claimed is:

1. In combination with a press, a chute communicating with anddischarging directly into the intake end of the press; means forintroducing material into the chute at or adjacent its upper end; andmeans located within and coacting with the chute at the intake of thepress for forcing material downwardly through the chute and directlyin.o the press and simultaneously placing it under compression.

2. In combination with a press, a feed chute associated therewith andhaving a feed opening in its side wall; means for conditioning thematerial to be treated and feeding it through said opening; meansmounted within the chute for forcing the material to be treated by thepress downwardly through the chute; and means for preventing rotativemovement of the material being fed, said means being associated with thefeeding means.

3. In combination with a press; a chute for delivering material to betreated thereto; a rotatable shaft in the chute; force feeding means forthe material at the upper end of the shaft; said means comprising anopen spiral; and a vertically extending fixed rod standing within andlying adjacent to the spiral.

4. In combination with a press, a chute for delivering material to betreated thereto; a rotatable shaft in the chute; force feeding means forthe material at the upper end of the shaft, said means comprising anopen spiral; a member adjustably mounted in the side of the chute at apoint above the upper end of the spiral; and a rod extending downwardlyfrom said member and standing within and lying adjacent to the spiral.

5. In combination with a press; a chute discharging into the press;means for heating the material to be treated and delivering it throughan opening formed in the upper portion of the chute; a rotatable shaftin the chute; a plurality of feed worms carried by and rotatable withthe shaft, the adjacent ends of the worms being separated and the edgesof the worms extending outwardly into close proximity with the wall ofthe chute; and means secured to the shell and extending inwardly betweenthe spaced ends of the worms for arresting rotative movement of thematerial being fed by the worms.

6. In combination with a press; a chute for discharging the materialinto the press; a shaft mounted within and extending longitudinally ofthe chute; means for driving the shaft; an open spiral element extendingabout the upper portion of the shaft and in spaced relation thereto; asleeve secured to the shaft; and a spiral flange secured to said sleeveand the lower end of'the spiral for supporting the latter.

7. In combination with a press; a chute for discharging materialthereto; a rotatable shaft in the chute; an open quick pitch spiralassociated with the upper end of the shaft and rotatable therewith; aclosed spiral of quick pitch located below the open spiral; and aplurality of worms mounted upon and supported by the lower portion ofthe shaft, said worms being of relatively low pitch.

8. In combination with a press, a chute discharging into the press;means for delivering the material to be treated into the upper portionof the chute; a rotatable shaft in the chute; a plurality of feed wormscarried by and rotatable with the shaft, the adjacent ends of the wormsbeing separated and the edges of the worms extending outwardlyinto'close proximity with the wall of the chute; and means secured tothe shell and extending inwardly between the spaced ends of the wormsforarresting rotative movement of the material being fed by the worms.

9. In combination with a press, a chute discharging into the press;means for heating the material to be pressed; means for delivering-thematerial from the heating means to the upper portion .of the chute; ashaft rotatably mounted within the chute; a plurality of separated wormssecured to and rotatable with the shaft, the worms extending outwardlyinto close proximity with the 'inner face of the shaft; and meanscarried by the chute and extending inwardly between the adjacent worms,said means acting to arrest rotative movement of the material being fedand compressed bythe worms.

10. In combination with a continuously oper-r RAYMOND ANDERSON.

